A fresh batch of declassified files released by the Trump administration has documented at least 209 sightings of unexplained green orbs, discs and fireballs near a military base in New Mexico between 1948 and 1950. The latest release, totalling 222 files, follows an initial tranche made public earlier this month.
The sightings were reported in the vicinity of a base in Sandia, New Mexico, which formed part of the Armed Forces Special Weapons Program (AFSWP), the direct successor to the Manhattan Project. According to the files, witnesses described the phenomena manoeuvring, flying out of sight, disappearing or exploding.
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said the documents, photos and videos of what are officially termed “unidentified anomalous phenomena” had long fuelled speculation about the existence of UFOs. “It's time the American people see it for themselves,” he said in a statement.
The release follows a Pentagon report that said it had “found no verifiable evidence that the US government or private industry has ever had access to extraterrestrial technology.” The initial batch of 161 files included old State Department cables, FBI records and NASA transcripts from crewed space missions, as well as more than 20 videos showing unidentified objects detected by military sensors in locations from Japan to Syria and North America.
President Donald Trump has been hinting at the release of UFO-related material since February, and last month said the defence department would publish “very interesting documents” soon. The Pentagon said further releases would be made on a rolling basis, following a 2022 congressional directive requiring the declassification of decades of UFO reports. The Pentagon's UFO office concluded in its first major report in 2024 that, while hundreds of new incidents had been detailed, there remained no confirmed evidence of alien technology.
